Fixing Problems with Cats...

No matter what the problem, when life hands you a shit sandwich, get a cat.  I don’t know how you should handle a lot of what life deals you, but I do know that cats make it better.  Always.

It is a simple math problem:

Having trouble at work?  Get a cat.

Troubles in your marriage?   Add 2 cats - your spouse may not stay but the cats will.

Grief?  3 or more cats is good for that.

Empty Nest?  7 cats is a good number to start with.

Broken heart?  11 or more cats is the perfect number to help you heal.

You can add cats a lot easier than dogs.  I have had 5 dogs at once and it was a lot.  Like too much.  Lots of barking, high energy crazy spells around the living room at all hours of the day and night, exponential amounts of shit clean up.  Adding dogs is just a lot.

But cats, now, cats you can add them up just fine.  They are small and easy.  They are fairly independent, unless you raise them like I do and then they are totally codependent and snuggle with you all the time, like if I have a lap I have at least three of them in it.

And I am about to solve a problem I don’t even have today with more cats...

I was driving up to Yosemite this weekend and I stopped to get gas.  And this gas station had a litter of kittens and momma cat who is already pregnant again.  It is just a matter of time before they get run over and killed.  It took everything I had not to scoop them all up right then and there.  But since I was going to a friend’s house who does not have cats, I decided I would wait until today and then go back and see if I could round them up and bring them home.

No. I am not going to keep them. I just want them to have a better life.  I want them to live and experience love and safety.  I want them to not just survive but thrive.  I know they know no other life than the one they are currently living but I do and that is the place my compassion and logic go head to head.  

I have been struggling all weekend...

Should I go try to get them?

Will the station let me take them?

How am I going to catch them all?

What am I going to put them in?

What if they need expensive vet care that I can’t afford right now?

What if I can’t find them all homes?

Why can’t I just mind my business?

Am I being selfish by wanting to do this?

Why can’t I just not go back to that station?

How can I not try?

I woke up at 4 am this morning, thinking, obsessing over the cats.  I know the easier thing to do is just not stop.  To just move on with my life. No one is asking me to do this.  This is not my responsibility.  So why the fuck can I not stop thinking about them?

Sometimes in life, the cats are actually the problem, and then my solution for problems, adding cats, becomes kind of a clusterfuck mentally that I can’t seem to find my way out of...

So I still do not know what I will do...stop and try or drive on by and berate myself forever.

I know most people can just drive on by.  But that is not who I am. Fuck.  Dammit.  Shit.

I do not want to add to my responsibilities and over all strife in life.  But I do feel like I am being called to help here.

I thought about just taking the pregnant mother cat...but then I decided that is going to hurt all the other babies if I just take her...I either have to leave them all or take them all...

I do not wish I were different, but I do wish that I could get clear about what to do today.  I have been praying for God’s will all weekend, and I feel no clearer about what my role is in this particular situation.

I mean if I follow my own advice, then the addition of cats is a foregone conclusion.

And then I can be of service by adding cats to all of your lives...I mean, I know I can’t keep any of the ones I rescue.  I have 11 now and if I keep anymore, my daughter and mother are going to do an intervention.  And I am pretty sure having to go to a cat hording treatment center will have a dearth of cats and that sounds like hell on earth to me...

I do not know what will happen today.  The only thing I know to do is just to drive home and be open to what will happen and trust that I will know what to do when I arrive at that exit.  Drive on through or stop and try to change the lives of all those little furry bundles of joy.

Sometimes I wish I was more callous, firmer in my boundaries and do not feel called upon to save every animal that crosses my path...but this is hard wired in me and honestly I wouldn’t change it if I could.  Every problem I have today in my life is made better with all my loving felines.  The respite and love I feel and experience with them every single day makes my life richer, fuller and a great deal more fun...

I pray that I am able to do God’s will, whatever that is...

Again, still...

And if I do mine, let me know if you want a kitten...